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A $15 million infusion to Victoria’s DuPont polymers plant will bring about 10 new employees and production improvements dur ing the next three years, officials announced Tuesday.

The growth is part of a $150 million company-wide plan to expand and upgrade specific plants in Asia, Europe and the United States, according to a DuPont news release.

“This investment will result in over 200 million pounds of additional capacity, enhanced capability of our current facilities, and reduced energy consumption of our operations,” DuPont Ethylene Copolymers global director William F. Weber said in the release.

“Importantly, it will accelerate DuPont’s ability to respond to rapidly growing demand as we serve our customers worldwide.”

Victoria’s new hires will mostly fill positions that opened because of retirement and attrition, said Nate Pepper, the company’s public affairs manager. The plant currently employs about 85 people.

Through the upgrade, the Victoria site will implement distributed control systems, which allow workers to operate the plant through touch-screen computers, rather than manually, Pepper said.

It also includes an analysis, during which workers will examine the production process, target points that could use improvement and introduce new equipment or processes to increase output.

“‘The hidden plant’ is what we call it,” Pepper said. “It’s capacity that’s already there. We just need to tap into it.”

The announcement bodes well for the company, Victoria site manager Jose Trevino said in the release.

“This is a vote of confidence in our future by our global business leadership,” he said.

Allison Miles is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6511 or amiles@vicad.com.